


Behind fading masks

by IneverDid



Category: Glee, Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:49:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27974705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IneverDid/pseuds/IneverDid
Summary: Just another long day in the office. At least that's what Amanda thought heading into the precinct to investigate the disappearance of a16 year old girl from Lima. However, nothing could have prepared her for what this case would stir up. Old secrets break through the surface as new dangers present themselves.(used some characters from glee, but no background knowledge needed)
Relationships: Olivia Benson/Amanda Rollins, Quinn Fabray/Santana Lopez
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	1. CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1: DISAPPEARED

PROLOGUE  
Laughter. The last thing she remembered was the most beautiful laughter she ever heard, the most beautiful laughter she ever could hear. Quinn’s laughter. Now all she felt was agony. Everything hurt. 

She couldn’t move. Her arms and legs lying limply on the cold concrete floor. She tried opening her eyes but even that felt impossible. Suddenly, the memory of that laughter resounded in her ears again, giving her just enough strength to complete the task she deemed impossible mere seconds ago: she opened her eyes.  
A single lightbulb hanging from a dusty ceiling lit the small room. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted what appeared to be a man looking through a black gym bag. He turned around and smiled right at her. Slowly, he started making his way over: “Finally decided to wake up huh? Well I suppose the fun can truly begin now”.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The shrill sound of a phone awoke the slumbering blonde. She took hold of her pillow and threw it at her sleeping partner: “Livia, make it stop!”. The brunette next to her grumbled and used the pillow that was just launched at her to cover her ears. “It’s yours” the brunette mumbled before pressing the pillow even tighter against her head to block out the incessant noise coming from the blonde's phone. 

Realizing that Olivia’s assessment was right and that is was in fact her phone that was still ringing, she reached out her hand and took the devilish device of her nightstand. “Rollins” she answered. She heard a soft chuckle on the other side of the phone before Fin's voice sounded through her phone “Sorry to wake you sunshine, but we got a case”. Amanda slowly sat up in the bed and wiped the last remnants of sleep from her eyes. “What happened?” she asked. Fin sighed “we don’t know yet, this guy just walked in to file a missing person’s report”. She groaned “Come on Fin, you woke me up two hours after I come home from a 24hours shift for a missing person’s report? Why couldn’t you have just called Carisi?” Fin had expected her to react this way, his partner truly needed a coffee before she was approachable in the morning, and since she had only left the precinct a couple of hours ago, he knew she would be even less enthusiastic. “Carisi’s out on the Carson case, so it was either waking you or your wife, and considering she’s an even bigger grouch than you before her morning coffee, I figured I would call you”. Amanda chuckled “I suppose you’re right about that big man, I’ll be there in twenty”. She threw one last longing look at the bed, placed a soft kiss on Olivia’s head, got up and headed towards the bathroom.

After a quick shower, she made her way into the kitchen, turned on the coffeemaker and put her cup in place. With a few grunts, the machine came alive and started sputtering out some of the much needed caffeine. The noise from the machine woke Frannie, who then of course wanted some attention from her mama. “At least someone’s happy in the mornings” she said while giving the dog a pat on her head. Frannie seemed content with the attention she got from her mama and trotted off in direction of the bedroom, undoubtedly to see where her other mommy was. Amanda hurried over and closed the door before the dog could make her way inside “Let’s not wake mommy just yet Frannie, it’s been a long week.” The dog gave a little whine but after getting a belly rub from the blonde she seemed happy to retire for a couple more hours of sleep herself. As Frannie settled back in her bed, Amanda retrieved her abandoned coffee, downed it and left a short but sweet note for Olivia telling her she got called in on a new case, that she loved her and that she’d see her later in the office. A quick weather check later, Amanda decided that it was too cold to walk the 12 blocks to the 1-6th. She grabbed her keys and made her way to her truck for another long day.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Hey, you made it” Fin greeted her as she made her way into the squad room. “I told you I would, didn’t I? So where’s our guy?” she asked. “He’s in the interview room, figured I’d wait for you so we could go in together.” Amanda nodded as they made their way into the interview room. 

“Hey, I’m detective Rollins and this is detective Tutuola, I was told you wanted to report a missing person?” The guy at the table looked up. He seemed nervous and ran his hand through his curly hair and back over to his chin. “Yeah, my name’s William Schuester, one of my students didn’t show up for practice this morning.” Fin and Amanda walked over and took a seat on the opposite end of the table. “One of your students, so you’re a teacher here?” she asked while pulling out her notebook. William nodded “Uh, yeah I am, well not here, but I am a teacher. We’re from Lima in Ohio and we’re competing in the national show choir competition on Sunday, but one of our members wasn’t in the hotel this morning, so here I am.” He sighed before continuing “Look, knowing Santana she’s probably out partying, but I really need her back before Sunday if we want to have any shot at this thing, so please just find her.” If she could Amanda would have rolled her eyes at this guy, one of his students went missing and all he cared about is a stupid competition. “Alright sir, could you give us some more information on Santana, and then we’ll accompany you back to your hotel and ask some questions to your other students, that sound okay to you?” “Yes, that’s fine, but please call me Will”. After both detectives nodded at him, he continued “Santana Lopez is one of our juniors at McKinley, she’s 16, uhm she’s a good kid but” “But what” Fin asked, noticing the teacher’s hesitancy to say more. “She’s a bit of a handful you know? Rude when you don’t agree with her, brutally honest about everything… it’s like she doesn’t care what you think about her.” Amanda jumped in “What about her friends?” Will seemed to think over the question before he answered “Brittany Pierce is her best friend. Santana is one of the most popular girls back at McKinley, being head cheerio and all, but aside from some kids in the glee club she doesn’t really hang out with a lot of people. At least not that I know off.” Amanda nodded “Okay do you have any contact details for her parents?” Will took out his phone and pulled up a number. “This is her father’s phone number”. Fin wrote down the number “We’ll get a uni to call her father. For now let’s go to the hotel and see what we can find okay?” Will hummed in agreement. “One more thing Will, you have a recent picture of Santana we could use for the alert?” Will took his phone back from Fin and scrolled through his pictures “We took this one after we arrived the day before yesterday since we needed to send a picture of each member in our choir to the competition organizers.” Amanda took the phone and forwarded the picture to Carisi, asking him to put out the alert when he got back from finishing up the Carson case.

“We’ll be right back to drive you to the hotel, so just wait here for a second please.” Amanda said as she and Fin went back to the squad room to get their things. “Remind me again why this is a SVU case?” Amanda groaned while sliding her gun and badge on her belt. Fin patted her on the shoulder “Because it’s a missing teenager from out of state, you know you don’t want metro pd to handle this, they’d never find her”. The blonde had to admit her partner was right, she was just so tired and wanted nothing more than to go home and crawl back in bed with her wife. “Yeah, you’re right Fin, I guess I’m just tired”. He gave her a reassuring smile “I know baby girl, I know. Let’s get this done”. 

The Royal Hudson Hotel definitely wasn’t royal. An old rotating door led into an even older looking reception where a group of teenagers stood arguing. Will immediately stepped forward and started trying to calm the kids down. “Guess this is the glee club huh?” Fin muttered to Amanda. She chuckled in response “Come on, a couple of teenagers don’t scare you, do they big guy?” She threw a wink over her shoulder as she went to stand next to Will. 

As if sensing that the blonde meant business, the group quieted down. Will cleared his throat “Everyone, this is detective Rollins and her partner detective Tutuola. They want to ask you some questions about Santana.” No sooner than the words had left his mouth, a small brunette pushed her way to the front of the group “Mr. Schue is this really necessary? We should be rehearsing, nationals is only a couple of days away.” The blonde that stood next to the tiny brunette rolled her eyes “Santana is missing Rachel, I know that this stupid competition is important to you but our friend is more important, don’t you get that?” Rachel turned back to the blonde “Oh Please Quinn, we all know she’s lying drunk in a ditch somewhere, she’ll be back like always.” The blonde looked like she was about to jump the petite brunette so Amanda decided to push the two apart “Hey, that’s enough. You’re not helping anyone by biting each other’s heads of. That being said, we do really need to ask you some questions so rehearsal will have to wait until we’re done.” Sensing that Rachel would object, Amanda gave her an stern look “That’s not up to discussion”. She waited to see if Rachel would dare to object again. When the young girl raised her hands in defeat Amanda nodded “Alright you six” she said while pointing out a part of the group “Come with me to the back of the lobby, the others can stay here with my partner. We expect your full cooperation, that understood?” Getting nods from all the kids, she turned to her partner “Don’t get too close, they smell fear”. Fin threw her a dirty look “Very funny Rollins, very funny”. 

As the interviews went on nothing of interest seemed to be turning up. Almost all of the teenagers said the same thing: the last time they saw Santana was at practice last night. They had practiced until eleven pm and then made their way back to the hotel to get some sleep before the next rehearsal. With only two more people to interview Amanda feared that no progress would be made.

The next in line was the blonde from earlier who seemed genuinely concerned about Santana. Trying to recall her name Amanda turned to the blonde “Quinn, was it?” she asked. The blonde nodded. “Detective Rollins, could we maybe do this somewhere private?” Amanda looked up from her notepad and saw the girl was nervously twitching her hands “Sure honey, come on follow me”. She gestured to Fin that she was taking the girl into a different room and asked one of the employees which room she could use. The girl behind the reception led them into a small office. Quinn sat down in one of the chairs at the desk while Amanda stayed put near the door not wanting to intrude too much into Quinn’s personal space.

“So, what did you want to tell me honey?” Quinn looked up from her hands “We’re dating, me and Santana I mean. We didn’t want to tell anyone yet because of our parents. They’re not very understanding, you know? And then there’s school… Everyone would look at us differently. But now they’re saying that Santana just went out to party with boys last night, but I know her. She would never leave me without telling me where she went…” Amanda could see that Quinn was starting to ramble so she decided to intervene “Hey Quinn, look at me. There is nothing wrong with you not wanting everyone to know about your relationship. I promise that my squad and I won’t do anything to jeopardize that, okay?” 

After receiving a small nod she continued “When did you last see her?” Quinn wiped some unshed tears from her eyes before answering “Last night, after rehearsal we went back to our room. Santana wanted to work on the choreography some more so she pushed the beds apart and ran through some new moves.” Amanda could see the love in this kid’s eyes as she talked about her girlfriend “She’s a dancer?” “She is, she’s brilliant. Santana thought of a new move that we could use for the competition and she wanted to run it by Brittany, her best friend. So she left our room and said that I should go to sleep, because she and Britt would probably be up all night searching for the right choreography. I wasn’t surprised when I woke up and she wasn’t there. I figured she had probably decided to stay with Brittany. So when I went to breakfast and Brittany asked me where Santana was I got confused. Apparently she never made it to Britt’s room last night.” When it was clear that the young blonde was done talking Amanda asked her next question “Do you have any idea where she could have gone? Does she have friends here in New York or maybe a relative?” Quinn shook her head “We’ve never even been to New York before.” 

The girl was on the verge of tears. Amanda stepped forward and bowed down so she sat eye to eye with Quinn “We’re going to do everything we can to find her okay? Is there anything else you can think of that might help us?” Suddenly, a small sparkle returned in Quinn’s eyes “Her phone, it’s still in our room. She forgot to take it with her last night.” Not having the heart to tell the girl that Santana not having her phone on her meant that they had no way of tracing her, Amanda gave Quinn’s hand a small squeeze “That’s great, honey. How about me and my partner go take a look in your room? You never know what we might find.” Quinn pulled a small swipe card from her back pocket “This is the key to our room, I can show you where it is if you want me to?” “I’m sure we’ll be able to find it, you can go with your friends to rehearsal if you’d like.” Quinn was quick to shake her head “I really don’t want to be around them right now, you saw what Rachel was like and I just can’t deal with that right now.” Amanda could definitely understand where she was coming from, that Rachel kid sure was intense to say the least “Alright darlin’ you can come with us”. 

They made their way back to the lobby where Fin was finishing up the last interviews. He saw them coming back into the room and went over to his partner. He hadn’t been able to get much useful information. Brittany had told him that Santana was apparently heading over to her room but that she never arrived there. Amanda then briefed him on what Quinn had told her and that she offered to show them to their room. 

The entire way up Amanda couldn’t help but feel bad for Quinn and Santana. She remembered what is was like to be gay in a small town, where everyone jumped at every chance to judge, criticize and insult what they couldn’t understand. Only when she arrived in New York had she finally found happiness. Thanks to her relationship with Olivia and the friendships she had built in the squad room, she had found where she belonged, she had come home. 

The elevator dinged to announce their arrival at Quinn and Santana’s floor. Amanda couldn’t help the feeling of dread rising up, she hoped they would be in time to find Santana before something happened to her, but realistically she knew that after being missing for seven hours something had probably already happened. Shaking the pessimistic thoughts from her head, she entered the room and started looking around. Nothing really seemed out of place. The beds were indeed still pushed apart and just like Quinn had mentioned before and Santana’s phone sat abandoned on the nightstand. Just as she was reaching for the device, her own phone started ringing. Seeing Carisi’s face stare up at her from the screen, she gestured to Fin to take over and excused herself from the room to take the call.

“Hey Carisi, please tell me you got some good news for me?” she asked him. “I’m sorry Amanda, that kid you asked me to put an alert on, we found her… it’s bad Rollins, really bad.”


	2. CHAPTER 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm back. I hope you like this chapter! Don't hesitate to leave kudos or a review if you did :) 
> 
> I hope to be able to keep updating regularly, but exams and having to get tested for COVID really set me back a few steps. 
> 
> Stay safe and all my love,  
> A.

“Hey Carisi, please tell me you got some good news for me?” she asked him. “I’m sorry Amanda, that kid you asked me to put an alert on, we found her… it’s bad Rollins, really bad.” 

“What happened?” she asked. 

“Local cops patrolling the area found her dumped in an alley off Canal Street and Broadway, she had multiple stab wounds, her clothes were torn off… a bus took her to Bellevue. Doc told them she would do whatever she could, but it’s not looking good.” 

This was exactly the news she dreaded. She had hoped that Rachel was right, that Santana did go out to party and that she would walk through that old rotating door like nothing had ever happened. 

“Damn it! Was she raped?” She had to ask the question, even if she probably already knew the answer. 

“It looks that way. We should call lieu in, let her know what’s going on.” 

He was right, Liv would want to be kept in the loop, “Yeah, I’ll call her. I’ll see you back at the precinct”. 

She didn’t have to wait long before her wife answered her phone “Hey you”. The soft greeting was exactly what Amanda needed right now. 

There was something about this case that had struck a chord. Only a couple hours in and she already felt connected to both Quinn and Santana. Most of the time it was Olivia that experienced these instant connections. Amanda was used to being the tough one, double questioning everything she was told, but today that all seemed to flow out the window. She wanted to nail the bastard that hurt that girl. 

“Amanda, are you there?” Olivia’s voice broke her train of thought.

“Yeah I’m here darlin’, we got a case. Young girl went missing from her hotel late last night. Her girlfriend told me she was heading over to her best friend’s room, but she never got there. Local cops just found her. She was brutalized Liv… stabbed, clothes ripped off, probably raped. We could really use your guidance on this one.” 

Amanda could feel Olivia slipping into lieutenant mode “Okay, you and Fin talk to the girlfriend and then head to the hospital to see what you can figure out. I’ll send Carisi over to the scene.”

“On it lieutenant, I’ll see you when we get back to the precinct.” Amanda tried to keep the call as professional as possible but she couldn’t end their conversation without adding one last thing “Hey Livia, I love you.” She didn’t have to wait long for a reply “Me too baby, me too”. 

This part of her job never got any easier. Seeing people break down after receiving the terrible news that one of their loved ones got hurt in one of the worst possible ways, but Amanda knew that while it was hard for her as a cop, it was even harder for the people who actually had to receive the news. She balled her fists, and rested her head against the wall “Get yourself together, Rollins!” 

She entered the room and went to sit next to Quinn on the bed. “My coworker just called to say they found Santana.” 

Quinn’s eyes filled up with hope “They did? Is she okay?”

Amanda took the girl’s hands in hers. “She was hurt during the night. She’s in the hospital now, the doctors are doing all they can.” 

Tears started streaming down the young girl’s cheeks “I need to see her”. 

“Of course” Amanda nodded “We’re going to the hospital so you can ride with us. Just take some time to gather your things and we’ll meet you downstairs in the lobby in 10 minutes okay? In the meantime we’re going to let your teacher know what’s going on.” 

After receiving a small nod, the detectives stood and made their way back to the glee club. 

“Detectives, we were just ready to leave for our rehearsal” Will said while leading the group of teenagers to the exit of the hotel.

“Hold up, we need to talk before you go anywhere”

Hesitantly, Will walked over to the detectives. “I’ve already told you all I know detectives”

“We found Santana” Fin deadpanned. 

Will’s smile lit up “That’s great, can you tell her to swing by my room tonight, we’ll have to discuss the consequences of her actions. She very nearly caused us to miss the biggest opportunity these kids get to make a name for themselves.” 

Amanda could not believe what she was hearing “Excuse me?” She ran her hands through her hair “You know what, your student, the one that went missing under your responsibility was attacked last night and is fighting for her life right now, so I’m sorry but your stupid competition is the very least of our concerns right now. I suggest you start looking for your basic sense of decency and tell those kids that their friend is in the hospital. Now excuse me while my partner and I go attend to some more important matters, like finding out what the hell happened to your student.” 

Will shifted his gaze to the floor “I ugh I don’t know what to say” he started.

“I think you’ve said enough, let’s go Rollins” Fin put his hand on her shoulder and guided her to the exit where they had agreed to meet Quinn. 

The car ride to the hospital was spent in complete silence, Quinn staring out the window with tears in her eyes, Fin on his phone texting Carisi and Amanda gripping the wheel tight while she tried to get them to their destination in record time. Fin threw her a worried look “You okay?”. Through gritted teeth she uttered a small fine. Understanding that she didn’t want to talk about it, Fin turned his attention back to his phone. 

Turning off the engine, she noticed that Quinn was still staring out the window, a lost look in her eyes. “Hey Quinn, we’re here. Let’s go inside.” A weak nod later, the threesome made their way into the hospital. “Why don’t you wait here with Fin and I’ll go see if anyone has some information for us.” 

After gently squeezing Quinn’s shoulder, she walked up to the information desk. “Can I help you ma’am?” 

“Yes, I’m detective Rollins with Manhattan SVU. Our victim, Santana Lopez, was brought here, I was wondering if we could get an update on her condition.” 

The nurse nodded and turned to his computer “Santana Lopez … ah here it is. She was brought in about an hour ago, if you want to walk with me, I can show you to the waiting room and see if the assigned doctor is available for an update.” Grateful for the help, Amanda told him to lead the way. 

The waiting room was an average sized typical hospital waiting room. A couple of old and worn magazines sat atop even more worn looking tables, a plant that had seen better days tried to make the room look a little more comfortable, but to no avail. The waiting room would always be that place where people got life changing news, be it in a good or a bad way. Amanda would know, she had seen the inside of too many of these types of rooms, and yet she never got used to that particular feeling of wanting the news to come as soon as possible, but at the same time hoping that it would take just a little longer, so for a couple of minutes more you could pretend that everything was going to be okay.

Hearing a notification come in on her cell, she took out her phone. Carisi had sent her a message. Apparently she must have clicked on the wrong app, the Instagram logo lighting up her phone instead of the messaging app. Before she could close the app, a picture caught her eye. Staring up at her was a photograph of her sister, her fugitive sister, in front of the Empire State Building, the caption reading “I’m back bitches, did you miss me?” Amanda froze. Kim was back? Didn’t she know that if the cops found her she’d be sent to Rikers for what she did when she was here years ago? Should she tell Liv about this or would it be best to keep the information to herself for a little longer? Kim was still her sister, so she owed it to her to keep silent about this, right? Amanda was well on her way to convince herself not to mention what she had just seen, but then she remembered what happened last time Kim was in town. She had framed Amanda for the murder of her boyfriend and had come so close to ruining Amanda’s relationship with Olivia before it even had the chance to really start. Olivia, she was her family now. Kim had made her bed, so she was going to have to lie in it. Telling her wife was the only way to keep her relationship away from harm, and she’d be damned if she let anything or anyone come between her and Olivia.

She was shaken from her inner turmoil by a doctor clearing her throat “Detective Rollins?” 

She stood up an shook the woman’s outstretched hand “Doc, thank you for doing this. How is she?”

The doctor gestured for her to follow her into her office down the hall. “Santana suffered several stab wounds to the abdominal area, we had to take out her spleen after it ruptured in theatre. There was also severe genital tearing so she was definitely raped. However, what concerns us the most at this point is the blow to the head. It caused some swelling of the brain, so we had to relieve some of the pressure. I’m afraid we will have to keep her sedated until the swelling goes down. Unfortunately, there’s no telling how long this will take, if it ever happens in the first place.” 

Carisi was definitely right when he called her, this was bad. “Was there anything that could help us find whoever did this?” 

The doctor shook her head, but suddenly snapped her fingers as if realizing she forgot to mention something “On her back, she had what first appeared to be random slashes. They weren’t very deep, but as we started to clean and suture the skin, it appeared there was a word carved into her back.”

“A word, were you able to see what is was?” 

The doctor nodded somberly “sinner”. They both remained quiet for some time, thinking about what kind of person would resort to carving words into a young girl’s skin. 

“Oh detective, there was something I needed to ask you as well. We don’t have any next of kin listed for Santana, we were hoping you could help us with that.” 

The blonde detective nodded “My squad is tracking down her father as we speak, but in the meantime we did bring a very close friend of hers. She really needs to see her, would that be possible?” 

The doctor pursed her lips, “normally we can’t allow any visitors during the first 24 hours after this kind of surgery, but I’m willing to look the other way for a short visit. 10 minutes tops detective.” 

“Cross my heart doctor” Amanda said while making the accompanying gesture. 

“Alright I’ll wait here so you can go get her friend and I’ll show her to the room.” 

She spotted Quinn and her partner waiting for her by the front desk. “Hey guys, so I just talked to Santana’s doctor and she told me that she’s out of surgery and that they’ve moved her into ICU. This might be hard to hear but the attacker hit her pretty hard on her head, so the doctors are keeping her asleep for a while so she can recover. They can’t tell yet when she’ll be awake, but she’s a real fighter your girl, and she’ll fight like hell to come back to you.”

Amanda gently bowed down in front of Quinn. The girl looked so lost in thought “Let’s go see your girl Quinn.” At least that got a small smile out of the young blonde.

Dr. Hensley was exactly where she promised to be and motioned for Quinn to follow her. Amanda gave her shoulder a last squeeze “We’ll be waiting right here okay?” A quick nod and Quinn was off with the doctor to Santana’s room. 

“I don’t know about you but I’m dead on my feet, I need some coffee” Fin stated “you want me to bring you anything” he asked.

“Hospital coffee? I think I’ll pass” she replied. 

Fin shrugged and headed off in the direction of the cafeteria. 

Amanda sat down on the chair outside of dr. Hensley’s office, her mind wandering back to Kim’s Instagram picture until a familiar red head passed her by. “Addie? What are you doing here?” 

The red headed doctor stopped right in front of her “I got called for a consult, what are you doing here?” 

Amanda pointed at the door to dr. Henley’s office “We caught a case”. 

Addie nodded “Well, I’m glad I ran into you, it saves me the cost of calling you later today.” 

Amanda frowned, why would Addison need to call her, unless… no it was too early, the results were only supposed to be in, in a couple of days. 

“We got the results a little early, I may have pulled some strings. Congratulations mama”

Amanda’s hand immediately drifted to her abdomen “It worked?” 

Addie nodded “Have you decided when you’re going to tell Liv yet?” 

Amanda shook her head. “No. To be honest, I was really expecting the results to come back negative.”

After three failed attempts at artificial insemination, Olivia and her decided that it might be best that they’d stop trying, maybe parenthood just wasn’t in the cards for them. The blonde detective knew how much Liv wanted a family and had decided to give it one last shot. Knowing that it would break Liv’s heart if it didn’t work again, she had kept their fourth and final try to herself. She couldn’t believe it had actually worked this time. 

Addison smiled at her “Don’t wait too long, Liv will be over the moon.” 

Hearing those words leave Addie’s mouth, filled Amanda with the one of the greatest feelings of warmth and happiness she had ever felt. She was right Olivia would be ecstatic when she found out. They would finally be able to start their family. 

“I won’t” the blonde detective assured her friend. 

Addie got paged a couple seconds later just as Finn was walking back towards her. 

“Who was that?” he asked. 

“Dr. Addison Montgomery, she’s one of Liv’s friends from back in her college days. She mostly works from Seattle nowadays, but when important cases pop up in New York she flies in to help where she can. She wanted to see if me and Liv could join her for dinner sometime this week, but I told her that it would be difficult as long as we’re on this case.” 

Fin nodded “the joy of being a SVU detective huh?” 

Meanwhile dr. Hensley led Quinn to Santana’s room and instructed her on what she could and couldn’t do “One last thing, there are a lot of wires and cables attached to Santana right now, but don’t let them scare you okay, she’s strong, but right now she needs some help recovering so that’s what they’re there for.” With that dr. Hensley opened the door to Santana’s room and stepped aside so Quinn could go in. 

Quinn didn’t even hear the door close behind her, all she could see was her girlfriend. Santana looked so pale, her cheeks missing their signature rosy undertone. In that moment, Quinn saw her entire relationship with Santana flash before her eyes. How it all started with that first kiss they had shared under the bleachers about a year ago. 

Lima Ohio +/- 1 year ago

Finn Hudson just asked Quinn out on a date and she was going on and on about how she was supposed to know whether she really liked him like that and what she should do if he kissed her. It would be her first kiss and the last thing she wanted to do was make a fool out of herself because of her inexperience. 

Santana decided that she had heard enough about Finn Hudson and Quinn’s self-doubt about kissing the jolly giant, so she got up and silenced Quinn in the best way possible. She kissed her, softly but passionately. Her hands coming up to gently massage the back of Quinn’s neck while pulling her closer. Her tongue grazing Quinn’s lips before slowly pulling back. 

“There” she said “now you know there’s nothing to worry about, you’re a great kisser”. 

Quinn was completely dumbfounded. Not knowing how to deal with what had just happened she muttered something about having to get ready for her date, and darted out from under the bleachers and continued homewards. 

About halfway home she received a text from Santana: Damn blondie, if you had sped out of here any faster you would have left skid marks. Text me after your date to let me know how it went. Quinn shot her short reply and decided right then and there that she would just pretend nothing had happened under those bleachers and that she was going to focus on her date with Finn. 

What a mistake that had been. The date turned out to be nice. Quinn and Finn talked over dinner but she just couldn’t imagine herself in a relationship with the guy in the booth with her. Her mind kept flashing back to that kiss with Santana, new waves of butterflies erupting every time she thought about the Latina’s lips claiming her own. 

Finn walked her home afterwards and when they reached the porch he did what she feared he would. He kissed her. There were no butterflies this time, no fireworks, no warmth and none of the other cliché things she had felt when Santana had kissed her after school. She pulled away, thanked him for the date and went into the empty house. 

Before her head even hit her pillow she started crying, completely at a loss for what to do. She spent the entire night antagonizing over what the events of the day would mean. She just could not accept that the person she had feelings for was Santana, when everything she was taught since she was a little kid told her that it was supposed to be Finn. By the time the sun was rising, she had decided that cutting off all contact with Santana would be for the best. If they didn’t talk to each other anymore than she would surely get over what was going on with her. 

And so it happened. Quinn threw herself into a relationship with Finn that made her sadder every day. Santana was gutted, she didn’t understand how one minute everything was fine and the next Quinn was acting as if she was a complete stranger. For three months they hardly even spoke to each other, Quinn always made sure to find a way out of the little conversations they did have during cheerio practice. 

In the end no conversation turned into constant fighting, which was even worse because deep down Quinn knew that her feelings for Santana had only increased since they stopped spending time together. 

One night Santana decided that she had had enough of the cold shoulder treatment. She had no idea what she did to deserve being treated like she didn’t matter. Sure, she had taken a leap by kissing Quinn, but hearing her go on and on about Finn just made her skin crawl. Quinn deserved so much better than him. He was always staring at the Jewish leprechaun anyway. 

She got into her car, drove over to Quinn’s place and started ringing the doorbell regardless of the fact that it was the middle of the night. She heard the window above the front door open and looked up to see Quinn staring at her through tired eyes. 

“Would you stop ringing the doorbell, my parents could be home you know?” Quinn said even though her parents were both still out of town.

“No they couldn’t, we both know that your father’s at that conference in Kentucky and that your mother’s off on some other Jesus loving booze cruise.”  
Quinn rolled her eyes “What are you doing here, Santana it’s three o’clock.” 

Santana just stood there, unaffected by Quinn’s signature eyeroll “Get your ass down here Fabray we’re going for a ride and you’re going to tell me why you’ve been acting like a grade A bitch for the last three months, I think I deserve that much, don’t you?”

Quinn knew that Santana was right, she did deserve answers “Give me ten minutes, I’m still in my pjs”. 

Santana turned around and started walking back to her car “you get five”. 

The first minutes of the drive had been spent in relative silence. Eventually, Santana was the one to break the silence “So are you going to start telling me what’s going on in that head of yours?” 

Quinn kept on staring out the window. 

“Come on Q, I really don’t know what I’ve done wrong here.” 

“Nothing… you’ve done nothing wrong” the blonde said quietly. 

Santana turned her attention to the girl in the passenger seat as she parked the car at the playground where they had first met when they were 12 years old “Then why are you treating me like I’m the scum of the earth?” 

Quinn shrugged, a tear slowly making its way down her check “Because I felt something”. 

“What are you talking about Quinn? Last time I checked you weren’t a psychopath so you’re bound to feel some things every once in a while.” 

Wiping the tears from her face Quinn finally looked away from the window “When you kissed me… I felt something, and every time Finn kisses me I feel horrible because I keep comparing him to you and there’s just no comparison San. You kissed me that day and you’ve ruined me for anyone else because all I want is to be with you. I know that you just did it to shut me up and that you don’t feel the same way, so it was just easier to cut you out.” 

Santana was shocked, she never would have thought that Quinn actually returned her feelings. Sure she had kissed her back, but Santana was convinced Quinn was just ‘practicing’ for the real deal with Finnocence. She opened her mouth to reply but Quinn beat her to it.

“I don’t want to think about what this means S, if my parents ever found out about me not being straight, they’d kill me. You don’t even feel the same, so there’s really no need to continue this conversation… if you could just drop me home now, that’d be great.” 

Santana shook her head “I’m not driving you anywhere until you listen to what I’ve got to say” she said while taking Quinn’s hands in hers. "I’ve always known I liked girls Quinn… The moment I first saw you was right there” she pointed at the old swing set “you were wearing that white dress with daisies on it and I knew right away that you were special, I had to know you. So I came over, sat next to you on that swing trying to get your attention, but being too shy to actually talk to you. Thank god Brittany showed up and declared us the unholy trinity within five minutes of actually knowing us. Ever since that day I’ve known you were it for me Quinn. What I’m trying to say is… I’m in love with you Q, I always have been.” 

Their second kiss was even better than their first. Now that both girls had admitted their feelings for one another, there was no hesitation, no fear, just love. 

They had come so far since then. Even if they had to keep their relationship a secret because of their small minded parents, even if they couldn’t go on stereotypical dates like their other classmates and even if they couldn’t hold hands or kiss in public, these last nine months had been the happiest in both of their lives.  
Their nighttime drives to the playground had become their very own date night activity, just her, Santana and the empty park. They were free there. Now all she worried about is whether they’d ever be able to go back to their spot. 

Quinn gently took Santana’s limp hand in hers. Subconsciously, she started rubbing small circles on the back of Santana’s hand trying to get some warmth back into her. 

“Hey baby” Quinn said while leaning over her girlfriend to give her a soft kiss on the forehead. 

“I know you probably can’t hear me, but I need you to fight San. I wish that I could do this for you, that I could take your place, but I can’t. So, think about all we still have to do together. We need to get out of Lima and go to college together, find a way too tiny for two apartment and make it work anyway. We need to fight about stupid things like how you secretly watched the next episode of the series that we’ll be watching together or about whether we’ll get a dog or a cat. We still need to start it all baby, so just hang in there and fight okay… For us.” 

A gentle knock broke Quinn’s train of thought. Dr. Hensley came in and told her it was time to go. Quinn gave Santana one last kiss on the back of the hand that was still softly clamped between her own “I love you, I’ll be back soon.”

Once dr. Hensley had led her back to Fin and Amanda, the detectives offered to drive her back to the hotel. Quinn would have rather stayed in the hospital, but she knew that there was nothing more she could do there anyway and she needed to get back to tell Brittany the details of what was going on. 

The drive back to the hotel was mostly spent in silence. Quinn thanked the detectives for the ride as she exited the car and walked to the entrance of the hotel. She heard another door of the car slam shut behind her and turned around. Detective Rollins was jogging back up to her, a card in her hand. 

“If you need anything, and I mean anything at all, call me okay? My cell is on the back so you can reach me 24/7.” 

Quinn took the card from her outstretched hand. “Thank you… for everything”

Right before Amanda got back into her truck her phone rang. 

“Rollins” she answered. 

“Amanda, we may have found something, we’ll need you and Fin back at the precinct.”

“Copy that lieutenant, we’ll be there in ten.” With that they sped off to the 1-6, hoping they would finally get some good news in this disturbing case.


	3. CHAPTER 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!!! Seven weeks of exams are finally over, so I'll finally be able to work on this story some more :) 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. We're really getting to the plot now, so sit back and enjoy the ride 
> 
> All my love and stay safe,   
> A

“Copy that lieutenant, we’ll be there in ten.” With that they sped off to the 1-6, hoping they would finally get some good news in this disturbing case. 

When the two detectives walked into the squad room, they were greeted by Olivia and Carisi standing at Carisi’s desk. 

“How’s Santana?” Olivia asked.

“The doctor confirmed she was raped, we’ll have to wait with the rape kit though, the perp hit her over the head which caused her brain to swell. They are keeping her sedated until the swelling goes down, but they have no idea when that’s going to be. Also, from what the doctor told me I think we might be looking at religious motives, the attacker carved the word sinner into her back.” Amanda summarized before turning to Carisi “You guys find anything?” 

“yeah, I went to the scene to see if CSU could help shed some light on what happened, but there wasn’t any trace of a struggle in the alley, her clothes weren’t there either, so we’re thinking that the attack took place somewhere else and she was dumped there afterwards.”

Amanda groaned “Great another dead end.”

“There’s something else though” Carisi tried to reassure her “I finally heard back from the hotel management, they gave me a list of people who were working the night shift last night. Tommy Parker was manning the front desk, so I went over to talk to him. He reckons he saw Santana walk into the lobby around 11:30 PM and it seemed she was heading for the B-wing of the hotel.” 

“Quinn told us she was heading to Brittany’s room, that’s in the B-wing if I remember correctly. Only thing is, she never got there.” Fin interrupted.

Carisi nodded “Tommy said that before she could head into B-wing another woman approached her. Tommy didn't get a good look but she was white and had a black bob haircut. He didn’t hear what they were talking about but he said that they left the building together and neither one of them returned before his shift ended around 4 in the morning. Now, he also said that he saw that woman before. He saw her talking to some of the other members of Santana’s group two days ago.” 

“Good job, Carisi” Liv praised “Do we know who exactly in that glee club he was talking about?”

Carisi took out his notebook “He said it was a black girl and a small loud white girl.” 

Amanda snorted at hearing that last description “Well, I know who that last one is. As for the other girl, there’s only one black girl in their club. Fin you interviewed her right?” 

Fin nodded “Yeah, I interviewed them both while you were talking to Quinn. Rachel Berry and Mercedes Jones. I’ll call their teacher to bring them in ASAP, if we’re lucky they might remember a name for our mystery woman.” 

“Alright, you get on that. Rollins, you call the hotel to get a list of everyone that stayed there in the last week. If our woman has been there twice in one week, she may be a guest. Carisi, I want you to see if there are security cameras nearby, maybe one of them picked something up. Meanwhile I’ll go update the chief on what we’ve got so far.” Liv stated before turning around and walking towards her office. 

Amanda picked up her phone, ready to get started on her task. It took her about a half hour to convince the manager of the hotel that while they could get a warrant for the requested information, it would only stall them and it might prove to be detrimental to his hotel if she sent their information for a thorough financial check and the manager wouldn’t want that now would he? The man eventually gave in and told her he would get his staff to send over the guestlist first thing. 

Getting up to report back to Liv, the events of the day started to catch up with her. She still had to tell Liv about what she had seen on Kim’s Instagram and more importantly she still had to tell her about the expansion of their little family. Amanda walked into the locker room and stood in front of the full length mirror inside her locker. After confirming their wasn’t anyone else in the room and nobody was looking in, she lifted the hem of her shirt and rested her hand on her abdomen. 

“Hey, little one. It’s your mama, I just wanted to tell you that I’m so happy you’re here and I promise I’ll always protect you, nobody will ever hurt you… not on my watch” she chuckled. Here she was talking to herself in an abandoned locker room, if anyone walked in right now they’d officially declare her mad. “Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I’m going to tell your mommy about you real soon, but it just doesn’t feel right to do it while we’re caught up in this case… we need to focus for a little longer, but as soon as we catch a break, I’ll tell her. Don’t worry though, she’ll be absolutely thrilled when she finds out. I’ll tell you a little secret kid, you’ve got the best mom anyone could ever ask for. She’s beautiful and kind and loving... she's perfect really, but let's not tell her that too often, it might go to her head." she chuckeled at her own joke, softly stroking her still flat abdomen. 

Before she could continue, the door to the locker room swung open. She quickly dropped her shirt back into place as Carisi turned the corner and saw her stand in front of her locker. 

He looked at her quizzically “You okay there Rollins, you’ve been in here for over ten minutes.”

Amanda nodded “Yeah I’m fine, I was just looking for my phone charger, but I think I left it at home, when I left in a hurry this morning.” She replied. It wasn’t a complete lie, she had actually forgotten her charger at home that morning. 

Carisi smiled “Don’t worry about it, you can borrow mine. It’s in the squad room.” 

After gratefully accepting Carisi’s charger, Amanda saw she had an e-mail from the hotel with the guest list. She put the list into the system to cross reference with the description given by the hotel clerk and to check whether any of them had a criminal record. She knew the software would take a while to run through all of the names, so she decided to update Liv in the meantime. 

She knocked on Liv’s door before entering. The brunette had her head buried in the pile of files on her desk, her thick black framed glasses sitting low on her nose.   
Looking up from the seemingly endless stack of paperwork she addressed her detective “What’s up?”

Amanda walked up to the desk and took a seat in one of the chairs at Olivia’s desk. “We got the guest list from the hotel, so hopefully we'll be able to cross reference that with what the girls can tell us. I put the names through the system so even if the girls can't help us, we can check if anyone matching the description is on the list and if they have a criminal record”

Olivia nodded “That’s good” 

When Amanda made no sign of getting up, Olivia raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at her “Is there something else?” 

Amanda started nervously fidgeting with her hands. She cleared her throat “Uhm…So this has nothing to do with the case, but there is something that I need to tell you as my lieutenant, but more importantly as my wife. Kim’s back in New York.” 

A look of shock crossed Olivia’s features, the damage Kim had inflicted last time she was in town still fresh on her mind “Did you see her? What does she want? Doesn’t she know she’ll be arrested when the police find her?” 

Softly grabbing Olivia’s hands in hers, Amanda interrupted her “When I was at the hospital earlier I accidently came across her Instagram page. She posted a pic in front of the Empire State building. That’s all I know. I just wanted to tell you before…”

Olivia could see how hard this was on Amanda, choosing to tell her over keeping quiet and protecting Kim like she had done two years ago. She got up and walked around her desk to be closer to the detective who’s eyes were now transfixed on her hands that lay limply in her lap. Gently, Olivia placed her hand on Amanda’s cheek, making the blonde look up at her. “Thank you for telling me ‘Manda. We’ll keep an eye on how this situation evolves and we’ll deal with it if needed okay… together. I promise you I will do everything within my power to protect her, but she does need to face the consequences for what she did.”

Amanda got up so she stood eye to eye with Olivia “I know” she wiped away a lonely tear that slowly made its way down her cheek “Thank you for still wanting to look out for her after everything that’s happened. Let’s just focus on our case first, we’ll deal with Kim when she needs to be dealt with. I have a feeling that this is not just going to blow over.” 

A loud knock on the office door broke their attention away from one another. “Sorry to interrupt, but the girls just got here, you want me and Carisi to take the interview?”

Liv shook her head “no that’s fine, Amanda and I’ll take it.”

Amanda wiped the last remainders of the fallen tears from her cheeks and looked up at Olivia “Let’s find out who our mystery woman is shall we?”

When they entered the interview room, Rachel and Mercedes were talking quietly among themselves. Amanda took the chair closest to the two teenagers, while Olivia settled next to the blonde detective. 

“This is lieutenant Benson, she’s in charge of the investigation. Now, we know we interviewed you guys this morning but some things have come up that we hope you can help us with.” 

Before Amanda could continue Rachel interrupted her “Do you know how long this will take? I don’t mean to be rude, but the less rehearsal time we lose so close to the competition the better. We already lost two of our best dancers and Quinn, we really can’t afford to miss the star vocal.”

Amanda frowned “Quinn and Brittany quit the competition?” 

Rachel shrugged “Yes. Honestly, I understand why Brittany quit, but Quinn and Santana aren’t even friends. They were literally pulling each other’s hair out just last year, so I don’t see why she would back out.” At that last remark Olivia threw an inquisitive glance to the blonde detective next to her. Amanda noticed and wrote “they’re still in the closet. I promised we wouldn’t tell” on her notepad before sliding it over to the lieutenant. Olivia nodded before turning back to the teenagers in front of her. 

“Most of us wanted to back out actually” Mercedes stated while rolling her eyes at Rachel ”Rachel and Finn convinced us to join back in. We made sure that Quinn and Brittany didn’t mind us competing though, and if anything else happens we’re out.” She added the last part while glaring in Rachel’s direction. 

Olivia cleared her throat “the reason we asked you to come in is because we think you might be able to help us with our investigation. The hotel clerk mentioned that you two were talking to a woman in the hotel lobby two days ago. She’s white, average size and has a black bob haircut. It would be really helpful if you had any more information on her.” 

“Savannah Phoenix” Mercedes said “She came up to us in the lobby to ask what were doing in the city. We told her about nationals while she was waiting to check in. Rachel invited her to come see us perform, but she said show choir wasn’t really her thing.” 

“That’s great” Amanda stated while looking up from her notebook “Is there anything else that could help us identify her?” 

“She had an accent. It sounded southern, a bit like yours, but I don’t know if that’s helpful”

Olivia was quick to reassure Mercedes “it is very helpful, thank you”

Meanwhile Amanda noticed Rachel had turned a little more pale and had started fidgeting. When Rachel’s eyes met the inquisitive blue ones staring back at her, she spoke up “You think Savannah had anything to do with this?” 

Amanda focused on the nervous looking teenager in front of her “Right now she’s the last person we know of that talked to Santana before she disappeared so if there’s anything you know, now would be the right time to tell us.” 

Amanda knew she was being quite stern with the girl, but she had a feeling that this was the only way she would get her to cooperate fully. 

The blonde detective was proven right when Rachel started talking “I saw her…, Last night… I saw Santana. Finn and I snuck out after practice. He wanted to take me out on a late night date and dinner. We left through the side exit so no one would see us. Right when we were about to leave we saw Santana and Savannah come out the hotel main entrance and walk up to a cab, Santana opened the back door and got in, while Savannah waited by the entrance. When the cab took off, Savannah went across the street to a bar. I swear Santana got in voluntarily.”

While taking off her glasses Olivia addressed the ranting girl “Why didn’t you say anything this morning when my detectives interviewed you?”

“Because I didn’t want to sound like… “

“A hypocrite?” Mercedes interrupted her.

An embarrassed look made its way onto Rachel’s face “Like I was setting different rules for Finn and I than for the rest of the team. I honestly thought that Santana snuck out too. But then Mr. Schue told us that Santana was in the hospital and I didn’t want to say anything because it would make me look bad since I lied this morning. I just … I really thought that it wouldn’t matter if I told you guys about what I saw, that you would find out some other way that didn’t put me or Finn in trouble.”

“So, let me get this straight, you decided to withhold crucial information while your friend is in hospital fighting for her life because you didn’t want your club knowing that the rules you set apply to everyone but yourself? Sounds pretty hypocritical to me”

Olivia threw Amanda a stern look. She knew the blonde detective opted to play bad cop, but she was testing the limits with that last statement. “Rollins, why don’t you go tell Fin and Carisi who to look for on the guest list.”

The blonde gaze hardened even further. She got up and slowly walked towards the door. When passing past Rachel she stopped in her tracks and rested her hand on the table to get the teenager's attention “You better start telling the lieutenant everything you know.”

Before Olivia could react, Amanda withdrew her hand and walked out of the room. Turning back to Rachel Olivia knew she would have to take up the good cop role.   
“Well the most important thing is that you told us now. However, I hope that you realize that my detective is right. That kind of behavior is unacceptable. When someone is in need of help and you know something that could aid our investigation you need to speak up right away, no matter how it makes you or anyone else look.”

Rachel nodded sheepishly. “Is there anything you remember about the cab? Make and model? License plate? Did you see the driver maybe?”

“It said on the side of the car that it was one of those New York privacy rides… you know only cash and a mirrored partition between the driver and the passengers. It was yellow, but I didn’t see the driver or the license plate.”

“Did you see the name of the cab company?”

Rachel nodded “NYPCR I think. It was spelled out in black letters across the side of the cab.”

When Olivia finished noting the information down she looked back up “Is there anything else either of you can think of that could help us?”

Before either teenager had the chance of answering her question, a loud string of curse words unmistakably coming from the blonde detective that had left the room minutes prior echoed in from the squad room. She heard a door slam, only for the precinct to return to its regular quiet state afterwards. Olivia told the teenagers to stay put and set off to find out what was going on. 

“What happened?” she asked Carisi who was staring at the computer screen in front of him, a confused look on his face.

“I don’t know, I pulled up the guest records for Savannah Phoenix like Amanda asked me to, but when she saw the picture she… she lost it Lieutenant, started cussing before taking off towards the cribs.”

Olivia’s stomach clenched. She knew her wife wasn’t easily thrown of her feet so for something to have such an impact it had to have been serious. “Show me the picture” she demanded.

Carisi nodded, pushed a few buttons before the picture was put up on the big screen in front of them. 

Staring back at her from the screen was a picture of Kim Rollins. She was wearing a black wig and the id did in fact state the name Savannah Phoenix in stead of her real name. “Fuck” she muttered. “Carisi go get Fin from the break room and tell him to set out a notice for Kim Rollins and go show that picture to the two girls in the interview room so they can identify her.”

The Italian detective looked up at his boss “Kim Rollins as in Amanda Rollins?” 

Olivia nodded solemnly “Her sister.” She ran her hands through her hair to center herself before turning on her heel and marching up to the cribs, terrified for what would await her on the other side of the door. 

She slowly opened the door and peeked her head in. Amanda was sitting on the bottom bunkbed, her arms tightly wrapped around her midsection while tears silently dripped of her cheeks. She was completely lost in thought, not even noticing when Olivia crouched down in front of her. Olivia knew she had to shake Amanda out of the stupor she was in so she placed her hand on the blonde’s cheek, softly rubbing small circles with her thumb, while gently coaxing her out if whatever dark place Amanda’s mind had wondered off to. It took a while, but finally the blonde’s eyes focused on the person in front of her. Olivia smiled softly, “There you are.”

Amanda pushed her face closer into Olivia’s hand while her arms stretched out to tug the brunette closer to her. Olivia noticed what Amanda was trying to do and got up to lie down on the bed, pulling Amanda even closer into her embrace as she did so. 

“Why does she always have to do this? Every time I get my life on the right track she waltzes in and takes a sledgehammer to everything I took years to build… I swear I didn’t know she was involved in this case 'Livia, you have to believe me.”

Olivia looked into her wife’s teary cobalt eyes and held her gaze while placing the softest of kisses on her lips “I know baby. You told me that up until this morning you didn’t even know she was in town, so how could you have known that she’d be involved.” 

“She managed to drive a wrench in between us the last time she was here, I don’t want… I can’t have that happen again. I don’t know who I am without you anymore 'Livia so I’m begging you don’t let her come in between us… It would kill me.” The words were spoken with such sincerity that they scared Olivia.

“Baby, look at me” she said while gently lifting Amanda’s head so they were looking into each other’s eyes again. “Nothing will ever drive me away from you ever again, okay? You are my world Amanda Rollins-Benson, and nobody, not even Kim, can take me away from you.” 

Silent sobs wrecked though Amanda’s body, so Olivia wrapped the blonde back up in her arms slowly rocking her back and forward while rubbing her hand soothingly up and down her trembling wife’s back. 

When Amanda finally calmed down, she timidly voiced what was on her mind “What’s going to happen now?” 

Olivia ran her hand through the soft blond tresses that had fallen in front of Amanda’s eyes “We’re going to find her, give her a chance to explain what’s going on and depending on what she tells us we'll determine the best way to go about this. One step at a time, okay?”

Olivia felt a soft nod against her shoulder “I love you”

Pressing a soft kiss to Amanda’s forehead Olivia replied “I love you too baby.”

A knock on the door made them separate from their embrace.

“Sorry to interrupt ‘Liv, but Santana’s father just arrived and he wants to speak to the person in charge” Fin stated, his head poking through the door. 

“We’ll be right there”

When Fin closed the door behind him, Olivia turned back to her wife “You okay to go back out there?” 

The blonde nodded “I’ll be fine”

Olivia brought Amanda's hand that was clasped in her own up to her mouth to press a lingering kiss to the back. "Let's do this, shall we?"

**Author's Note:**

> A cliffhanger in the very first chapter you say? Well I had to keep it interesting one way or another. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. More will be coming (hopefully soon) but since exams are right around the corner I can't make any promises on when I'll be able to update.
> 
> All my love and keep it safe,  
> A.


End file.
